Bottle gassing machine



May 7, 1940.

BOTTLE GASSING MACHINE Filed Dec. 4, 1937 INVENTOR.

Jrzmea finial,

W w! 1/ @fm.

ATTORNEYS J. KANTOR 2,199,565

Patented May 7, 1940 BOTTLE GASSING MACHINE James Kantor, Chicago, Ill., assignor to The Liquid Carbonic Corporation, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application December 4, 1937, Serial No. 178,027

9 Claims.

The invention relates to improvements in bottle filling machines and particularly to that type of bottle filling machines and methods for filling bottles with beer wherein, after the contents of 5' the bottle have been delivered thereto aquantity of CO2 is delivered on top of the contents prior to the crowning or sealing of the bottle for the purpose of expelling any air which may have accumulated in the top of the bottle above the contents thereof.

It is one of the objects of the invention to provide means for so delivering the CO2 to the bottle after the liquid contentshave been discharged therein that agitation of the contents is prevented, and so delivering the CO2 on top of the contents that all air which may have accumulated in the bottle or container above the contents is thoroughly and quickly removed.

For the purpose of disclosing the invention, an embodiment thereof is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partially'in section, of an apparatus for discharging the 002 to the top of the bottle;

Figs, 2 and 3, taken together, constitute a longitudinal sectional view of the gas or sealed C02 delivering valve;

Fig. 4 is a detail section showing a modification of the gas delivery tip;

Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section of a modification of the structure illustrated in Fig.4; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

In the embodiment there is provided a standard 35. or base I which supports an outwardly extending post 2 on which is adapted to rotate a sleeve 3, having suitable bearings between it and the post 2.

This sleeve carries a spider provided at its outer periphery with a plurality of tubular sockets 4 adapted for the reception of the gassing valves 5. a cam 6 which cooperates with rollers I, one on each of the valve sides, for raising and lowering the valves.

The sleeve 3 has mounted or formed thereon.

a pair of bottle carrying stars 8 vertically spaced apart and adapted to engage and move the bottles over a table 9, the stars being so arranged as to '0 55 suitable conductor tube ill with a gas reservoir The stationary post 2 is provided with 1 receive the bottles on one side of the table, the

I I in turn connected with a supply of CD21 through a suitable valve mechanism l2 and a communicating conduit l3.

As each of the gassing valves is of the same construction, description of one will be sufiicient 5 for the description of all; Each of the gassing valves, as heretofore explained, recip'rocates in one of the tubular guides4 of the spider and each valve is provided with a chamber I4 communicating through a port I5 with its supply pipe it. The chamber M, at its lower end, is closed by a threaded plug |6 having formed on its upper face a valve seat ll. Agassing tube l8 extends through'the plug I6 and is provided at its upper end with inlet ports l9 and with a valve 20 having anannular shoulder adapted to engage the seat i! for the purpose of closing the inlet ports Hi. This tube l8 has a tubular extension 2! threaded at its upper end into the tube and having threaded on its lower end a tip 22 provided with radially extending discharge openings 23. These radially extending horizontally disposed discharge openings are so arranged that the gas is discharged laterally from the tube so that it will be discharged, even though they tip be inserted below the level of the liquid, against the sides of the bottle thereby preventing foaming or undue disturbance of the contents of the bottle. I

Surrounding the gassing tube 2| is a bottle bell 24 provided with the usual sealing washer 25 and with vent openings 26. This bell is provided with an upwardly extending screw threaded neck 2'! receiving an adjustable stop member 28 adapted at its upper end, when in apredeter-- -rnine'cl position, to engage the tube l8 for the purpose of raising the valve shoulder of the valve 28 off itsrseat thereby placing the gassing tube 2| in communication with the gas chamber M. A lock'nut is provided on the stem 21 to 40 prevent movement of the stop 28, after it has been once set to position. By the proper adjustment of this stop member 28 the extent of projection of the tip 22 may be nicely, adjusted so that it will only project into the bottle to, or 5 slightly below, the liquid level as indicated in Fig. 3.

In Fig. 4 I have illustrated a modification of the discharge shaft for the gassing tube 2|." In the structure illustrated in this figure, the tube is internally threaded at 29 to receive a threaded .tip 30. This tip is of such diameter that an annular space 3| is left between its lower wall and the bottom wall of the tube 2|. A center bore 32 communicates with the center of tube '55 M and with a series of radial openings 33 which, it will be noted, open into the annular space. The lower end of the tip is provided with an annular flange 34 adapted to be spaced apart from the bottom end of the tube to provide a horizontally disposed annular discharge groove 35. In this manner the gas is discharged laterally in disc form thereby reducing the discharge velocity of the gas and, due to this lowered velocity, there is less danger or chance of air becoming mixed with the gas.

In Figs. and 6 I have illustrated a further modification of the structure illustrated in Fig. 4, whereby I am still enabled to discharge the gas in the form of a disc. Inthis structure the tube 2| is substantially the same formation as is illustrated in Fig. 4. At the lower end, however, the tube 2| is provided with a series of milled radially disposed recesses or cuts 36 in the bottom face thereof. The plug 3!! is screwed up until the angular shoulder 34 makes direct contact with the bottom edge of the tube. However, due to the recesses a series of openings are formed in the side walls through which the gas may escape and, due to the fact that I have provided a relatively large number of these openings, the gas is delivered in substantially disclike form.

The cam 6 is so disposed, relative to the height of the bottle to be gassed, that as the bottle moves around on the table 9 through the medium of the star wheels 8, the gassing valve 5 and associated parts will be lowered until the bell 24 seats on the top of the bottle, as illustrated in Fig, 3. The cam is so arranged that it will continue to lower the valve casing 5 to the point where the tip 22 reaches the level of the liquid in the bottle or to a point slightly below the level of the liquid. By this time, the tube 98 has engaged the top of the stop member 28, which it will be remembered has been brought to rest on the bottle, thereby permitting the valve casing 5 to clear the valve 20 thereby opening the valve and admitting C02 to the gassing tube and to the bottle above the liquid contents. A continued rotation of the valve casing 5 relative to the cam 6 will, of course, again raise the valve casingb and its associated parts until the gassing tube has cleared the neck of the bottle by which time the bottle will be in a position tobe delivered from the table 9.

It is to be noted that in this structure the delivery end, or delivery ports, of the gassing tube are adapted to be projected into the bottle only to, or very slightly below, the level of the liquid content of the bottle, therefore the CO2, when delivered through the openings 23 and the tip of the gassing tube, will flow upwardly in the bottle towards the top thus forcing out any air which may have accumulated in the top of the bottle. It is to be further noted that the delivery of the gas in this matter is decidedly advantageous over the delivery of the CO2 to the top of the bottle wherein the CO2 delivery tube only enters the bottle at the extreme top thereof and that the CO2 is thus delivered downwardly into the bottle. Such structures have been heretofore used in the prior commercial art and have been found to be wholly unsatisfactory. Not only does a delivery of this character tend to pull in a certain amount of air with it as the CO2 is delivered, but it also tends to agitate the liquid in the bottle to such an extent as to cause foaming or frothing. By delivering the CO2 at the liquid level of the content of the bottle, or slightly below, no danger of frothing or drawing in of outside air occurs and, furthermore, in those instances where the tip of the gassing tube is slightly below the liquid level, even though a slight bubbling would occur as the result of the delivery of the gas, this would not be disadvantageous because the bubbling is created as a result of the delivery of the CO2 and as soon as the bubbles burst at the liquid level this CO2 would be liberated.

Of course, if the gassing tube were plunged into the liquid to a point well below the liquid level or to the bottom of the liquid level, the consequent frothing of the liquid would be so great as to cause the liquid to more or less overflow the bottle.

The sleeve 3 is adapted to be continuously driven by any suitable mechanism, although my final gasser is essentially designed for association with liquid filling machines of various characters and the sleeve 3 with its associated star wheels 8 are adapted to be driven from the filling machine and to be continuously driven therefrom.

The present application is a continuation in part of my copending application filed May 10, 1935, Serial No. 20,725, for Bottle filling and gassing machine.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a container filling apparatus, the combination with a reciprocating valve member of a delivery tube movable with and relatively to said valve member and having a controlling valve at its upper end and a delivery opening at its lower end in the form of a horizontally disposed annular groove, a bottle bell telescopically receiving said tube and having adjustable means adapted to move said tube relatively to said valve memher, and means for lowering said valve member and tube to project the lower end of said tube into the container.

2. In a container filling apparatus, the combination with a reciprocating valve member of a delivery tube movable with and relatively to said valve member and having a controlling valve at its upper end and a delivery opening at its lower end, a bottle bell telescopically-receiving said tube, and an adjustable stop member movable with said bell and engaging and moving said tube relatively to said valve membergfor limiting the relative movement between'said tube and said bell.

3. In a container filling apparatus,'the combination with a rotary conveyor adapted to receive filled containers, of a plurality of reciproeating valves rotatable with said conveyor and each including a reciprocating member, a delivery tube depending from said valve member having a discharge opening at its lower end and reciprocating with and independently of said member, and means for reciprocating said valve member and tube, during the rotation thereof, to project the lower end of said tube into the container, the downward movement of the tube being limited to project the lower end of the tube to a point at or slightly below the liquid level of the liquid container.

4. In a container filling apparatus, the combination with a conveyor adapted to receive filled containers, of a reciprocating valve movable with said conveyor and including a reciprocating valve member, a delivery tube depending from said valve member having a. discharge opening at its lower end and reciprocating with and independently of said valve member, and means for reciprocating said valve member and tube during its movement with the conveyor to project the lower end of said tube into the container, the downward movement of said tube being limited to project the lower end of said tube to a point at or slightly below the liquid level in the container.

5. In a container filling apparatus, the combination with a conveyor, of a reciprocating valve movable with said conveyor and including a reciprocating valve member, a delivery tube depending from said valve member having laterally disposed delivery openings at its lower end and reciprocating with and independently of said valve member, and means for reciprocating said valve member and tube during its movement with said conveyor to project the discharge end of said tube into the container, the downward movement of the tube being limited to project the delivery end of. the tube into the container to a point at or slightly below the liquid level of the container.

6. In a container filling apparatus, the combination with a rotary conveyor adapted to receive filled containers, of a plurality of reciprocating valves rotatable with said conveyor and each including a reciprocating valve member, a delivery tube depending from said member having a discharge opening at its lower end and reciprocating with and independently of said valve member, means for reciprocating said valve member to project said tube into the container during the rotation of the valve member, the downward movement of said tube being limited to project the lower end of the tube into the container to a point at or slightly below the liquid level of the container, a valve controlling the admission of an inert gas into said tube, and means for opening said valve when the delivery end of the tube has reached its lowermost point.

7. In a container filling apparatus, the combination with a traveling conveyor adapted to receive filled containers, of a reciprocating valve member movable with said conveyor, a delivery tube carried by and reciprocable with and relatively to the valve member, a controlling valve at the upper end of said tube and a delivery opening at the lower end of said tube, a bottle bell telescopically receiving said tube and having means adapted to move said tube relatively to the valve member, means for reciprocating said valve member to project the lower end of the tube into the container, the downward movement of the tube being limited to project the lower end of the tube into the container to a point at-or slightly below the liquid level of the bottle.

8. In a container filling apparatus, the combination with a conveyor adapted to receive and convey filled containers, of a reciprocating valve member, a filling tube reciprocable with and relatively to said valve member, said valve member having a seat, a head on the upper end of said tube adapted to engage said seat for controlling the admission of an inert gas into said tube, the

lower end of said tube having laterally projecting delivery openings, a container bell slidably mounted on said tube, an adjustable stop member carried by said bell and adapted to engage means on said tube for causing the same to move relatively to the valve member, and means for reciprocating said valve member to project said tube into a filled container and engage said bell with the neck of said container, the downward movement of said valve member being limited to project the delivery end of the tube into the container to a point at or slightly below the liquid level in the container.

9. In a container filling apparatus, a filling tube having a central opening extending therethrough, a threaded plug adapted to thread into the bottom end of said tube having a Vertical channel and having its lower end closed, said plug being of a diameter less than the inner periphery of the lower end of the tube and having a transverse channel communicating with said vertical channel and an annular flange formed on the bottom end of said plug and adapted to be spaced apart from at least a portion of the bottom end of the tube.

JAMES KANTOR. 

